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Tag Archives: light gray paint

Over the past week, The Hubs and I have purchased 22 Benjamin Moore samples. We may have gone a little overboard, but we’re actually paying for a real professional painter – we feel like such grown-ups! – so we want to be absolutely sure we’re picking the right colors. Plus, as I recently discovered: it is damn near impossible to find the perfect gray.

Of the 22 samples, nine were various shades of light gray. The Chosen One would cover our entryway, living room, dining room, kitchen, stairway, and two hallways. We had also decided that our bedroom should be light gray (though not necessarily the same light gray as the rest of the house). So, as you can imagine, we weren’t messing around. We were looking for a warm, soft gray that was light enough to make the room feel airy and bright, but dark enough to pop against white trim and frames. I won’t lie: I went in with a bias. I thought Moonshine would be the winner.

But once the colors were on the wall, I got confused. Moonshine was the right intensity, but not the right shade. It was reading too tan in our house – it even seemed to have a hint of olive green. Brad agreed. In fact, he hated it. We checked a few rooms just to be sure.

We both agreed that we liked Horizon, but I was worried that it was too light. Iced Cube Silver was a really nice color, but too blue for such a large space. Marilyn’s Dress was too light and too blue.

Paper White was too light, and looked a little dingy. And Silver Satin didn’t even look gray to me – more of a peachish-beige.

I brought over some small white frames to see what, if anything, would pop. Horizon did not.

There was a clear contrast between Moonshine and the white frame, but not the contrast I was looking for.

So, we wanted something a teeny bit darker than Horizon. We wanted something cooler than Moonshine, but still warm. We wanted something grayer. It seemed impossible, but we went back to the paint store anyway.

After all our hemming and hawing, at least we had a better idea what we were looking for. We came back with three more paints and painted right over the three colors we definitely planned to veto.

You can’t really tell from these photos, but Alaskan Husky was the same darkness as Moonshine, but much grayer. It was cooler without being cool. REJOICE.

So, Alaskan Husky is the winner for the majority of the house. The decision for our bedroom was a bit tougher. I was gunning for Gray Owl, but both Brad and I were having trouble letting go of Horizon. We ultimately decided that it didn’t matter that it wouldn’t pop as much against white, since most of our furniture and frames in our bedroom are black, anyway. So that’s that!

And since we also liked Iced Cube Silver, we decided that could work in our master bathroom. We’re going for a soothing, cool feel in there, so ice blue should be perfect.

Now, I’ve only mentioned nine shades of gray so far, and the title of the post is “Fourteen Shades of Gray.” I know you’re disappointed. Don’t worry – there are more coming. We also picked colors for our guest room, office, and two more bathrooms. But I’ll save those for another post.